The Best Product:Winning through Costs and Features

Abstract

The Best Product position builds upon the classic forms of competition through Low Cost or Differentiation. In this case the relevant economic drivers are centered on the value chain of the product or service. Products tend to be standardized and unbundled. Companies pursuing this strategy have the primary objective of improving the efficiency of their own supply chain, which is the machine that delivers the product. Customers are likely to be considered faceless and generic and to be served through mass distribution channels. Innovation is focused on the renewal of the product line. In the best case, the firm has a common product platform that supports the rapid development of a stream of products enabling ‘first-to-market’ positions and the establishment of the so-called dominant design.’ Best Product emerged as a strategic position from the industrial era and is the default strategic option for the majority of firms today. Best Product businesses attract customers by the intrinsic characteristics of the product itself. This is the position where a company has the least to do with its customer, hence making the incumbent firms more vulnerable to new entrants. After all, if the customer is attracted by the superiority of your product, then the customer will desert you if a new superior product appears in the marketplace.